Merrist Wood Golf Club

24 reviews of Merrist Wood Golf Club

Decent layout with some interesting holes.. its a shame the course was so wet when we played. I'd suggest one to avoid during wet period of weather.. but will definitley return in the spring. Good standard of greens and tee boxes. Decent clubhouse (nice breakfast).

Solid layout - played it today and while the fairways were heavy (lift and drop in place), I found it to offer a strong challenge off the back tees. Greens were on the slow side but rolled truly, several well designed greens to offer some tough pin positions. Especially liked the par 4 14th and 17th holes and strong par 5 to finish. I would recommend a visit as long as the course holds up during wetter conditions. Madness Monday at £18 per round is bargain....

Agree totally with your last reviewer who described it as an excellent golf course; I also would highly recommend. Challenging, in good condition and value for money.

Posted by philip hanna on 19/08/2011

Merrist Wood is an excellent course which I am delighted to recommend.

Although the score card says that it is just over 6200 yards off the yellow tees, it appears to play shorter than this despite recent heavy rainfall and longer hitters may wish to play off the white or even the blue tees.

Most fairways are quite wide but strategically placed trees and bunkers can make life difficult if you stray offline and wayward shots will be severely punished in the long (knee high) rough.

The fairways and greens are in excellent condition. A number of greens have significant borrows and many are well guarded by bunkers so a good approach shot is essential but as I found that most of my appraoch shots were being played with a lofted (60 degree) wedge this isn't too hard.

My only criticism of the course would be that some of the paths are in need of repair.

A well appointed clubhouse and a friendly welcome at the pro shop made it a most enjoyable day and I hope to return soon.

Posted by Peter Smith on 19/07/2011

I played on 11th October for £15. A strong easterly wind meant that the course did not play as the designer envisaged. The low SI holes(5,9,13,15&17) which are usually played with the prevailing wind were into the wind so even longer & more difficult than normal.At 6900 yds from the blue tees (which I used) it is very long with very few par 4's allowing a short iron approach. It is generally fairly open from the tee so there is a chance to open your shoulders . I can see that now there is little run on most fairways perhaps using the yellow tees would give a greater variety of shots to the greens which are well protected. The par 3's are all surprisingly short compared to the other holes and fairly straightforward.The greens were good and generally large but notices indicated that work on them would be starting soon. The fairways were below average even for the time of year.The 12th is the only short par 4 but one of the most challenging holes. A lake protects the green to the front & right & the approach is really tricky as an Out Of Bounds fence is only a few paces to the left of the green. This was a course where every par was really satisfying but it is not one to play unless you are on your game.

Played this in the first week in October and was amazed at how good a condition it was in. It was very damp, which was to be expected given the damp conditions in the previous week, but the greens were fast and true and the fairways were in great condition also. The only on-course issue I had was with the bunkers, which didn't seem to have a lot of loose sand in a few of them. I got to visit 8 of them in my round, so I think i sampled enough to get a good idea anyway.The fairways are wide and forgiving, so in the main you're not going to get into a lot of trouble off the tee. The 16th and 17th are the two holes I probably enjoyed the look of the most. The 16th is a scenic downhill par 3, while at the 17th there is a huge pond in front of the tee box to get over. There are bale out areas to the right though, just in case you aren't the longest of hitters. The 12th is also a cute par 4, not long, but with a pond in front of the green which makes you think about how close you want to hit your tee shot.The course is quite long though, and there aren't a huge number of memorable holes.The club house is really pleasant, and the practise area is something a lot of other clubs would like to have, so all in all I found Merrist Wood to be an enjoyable place to play.I played there for £15, which I thought was a bit of a bargain.

It's dull. The greens are excellent but to get to them you have to endure an awful lot of boring fairways built by bulldozers(some have some good fairway bunkers and a couple have ponds) but generally you could play the same hole several times and not realise it. Good Par 3's from 8 onwards. Dreadful on course signage.

I played at Merrist Wood in early November and the course was in great condition. The fairway conditions were good with the ball still running from good drives. The rough whilst penalising a shot was not so penal that you lost your ball as in some clubs.We started early, and the course was quiet, although byt the time we came around the first nine, there were a few groups waiting on the 1st tee.Only slight comment was that in the bar afterwards, the food could have been better orgainsed. We ordered 2 meals, but they came out seperately and one had almost finished their meal before the other arrived.I am looking forward to visiting there again soon.

Played here midweek November 06 (£14 after 1 pm using a county card ).Contemporary parkland course .I found this tricky to rate.The two nines are contrasting .The front 9 was more open ,a bit bleak & a bit of a slog (lots of straightish par 4s which off the whites are good drives & long irons ).What this front 9 needs are 1 or 2 short, strategic par 4s to break up the up & down nature of the middle section.The course redeems itself on the back 9 which is more interesting & there's much more variety .The water features come into play more & there's a good last 3 hole finish.The overall feel here is that it's a 'big' course on a big area of land & at times it can feel a bit like hard work .(It's a good driving course as there's plenty of room off the tee.) It took 2 of us 20 minutes longer than we'd normally take with no hold ups.The greens, despite being heavily sanded ran very true & at a consistent pace & i would anticipate them to be good in the summer. Grass on the fairways & in the rough was a bit on the thin side.( Sometimes in the rough you'd be on a bit of wormcasty mud.)The impression i got was it's not the type of course that would stay like this year round & that there would be a fair amount of improvement . It seemed a friendly & welcoming club & overall it's worth a look.Kevin B.

I played this course on Thursday 18th May - for the first time since my last visit in 2004 described in a previous posting.I am happy to report that there were no problems with drainage or greens.My earlier comments no longer apply and can now be removed.

I've been looking for a club to join for some time and have played various courses in the area with the view of joining. My search ended when I played Merrist wood. Great course and a great crowd too. I was welcomed by the members and the management from the start. I wanted to join a club with a course that played well all year round. The days prior to my game here saw some very heavy rain but I found the course had drained very well. The combination of the freindly members, fantastic course and the personal involvement of the management made making a decision to join Merrist Wood GC an easy one to make.

Just played Merrist Wood, absolutely fantastic! Course in fantastic condition and some extremely interesting holes on both front and back nine. Purchasing a stroke saver is essential as many holes have ditches running across them which cannott be seen from the tee.I would highly recommend this course for golfers of all abilities, and having just played in the week for free as it is a member of the Barrelfield Network, I feel that I have had a major result! Congratulations to all staff on the course for keeping it in such execellent shape.

Over the last 3 years I have played Merrist Wood a number of times on and off season. I can understand the frustration of some of the comments below from previous years, but have watched how the work that was being carried out has improved the greens, fairways and the bunkers and find it one of the best courses in it's price category. I can only complement the green keepers and staff on consistantly making this course a pleasure to play. After constantly looking for a course to make my own, I think I have found it. I intend joining next month.

Played 18 holes 03rd June 2004. I found the course to be of a very high standard and would push all level of golfer to the the limit of their individual skills. Whilst work is continuing on the course in general, this should be viewed as a positive step rather than a negative. Since the end of April the course has improved out of proportion to that normally expected and is a credit to the greenkeeping and course management staff.To finish, the hospitallity and professionalism of Paddy & Sue (Proprietors) was indeed a breath of fresh air, this style of Management would be well adopted across the golfing network of the UK in general.I thank you!

I played at Merrist Wood for the first time on Saturday May 30, and thought it was excellent all round! Staff couldnt have been more friendly or helpful, and the course was a pleasure to play, and in very good condition overall...it is obvious that there has been a lot of work done on bunkers etc and we had no complaints. Definitely a course I will look forward to returning to.

Regarding the comments made about the course condition in late April / Early May 2004.1, We had just hollow cored and top dressed all greens.2, The end of April / Early May was the wettest on record since 1947.3, Bunkers renovation works were being carried out during these peoples visits and were well advertised in advance. 4, None of the people complaining via this site spoke to the management of Merrist Wood nor did they attempt to determine the facts before going to print.5, Our soft spike only policy is made known to ALL visitors prior to their visit.6, The works are now complete and the course is fantastic.Paddy FlavinProprietor

Played with a Society on 1/5/2004 & can only concur with the last 3 comments. Nice layout with some good holes & use of water totally spoilt by condition of course. For May, a course should not be as waterlogged, have so much GUR & bunkers not in use and have so patchy greens.I was also made to change my metal spikes for soft, at a cost of £8, & cannot see how this would make any difference when the course is in this condition.May be better in a couple of months when dryer & 'maintenance work' completed, but won't be hurrying back.Good breakfast though!

I played Merrist Wood on 30 April 2004. The course was in extremely poor condition especially the greens which made putting a lottery. Bunkers were either devoid of sand, under repair or completely full of water. There had been a very light frost in the morning in the courses defence.The course is fairly well laid out, but definition between fairway, first cut/semi and rough was indistinct on most if not all holes. Lots of GUR areas, mostly waterlogged or bare patches on fairways.Good club house with friendly attentive staff and a well stocked pro shop.

Played the course on Friday 23rd April, having previously played it three or four years ago in a club competition.I can only agree that the course was in poor condition. Bunkers were being dug out and drainage work done. Greens were very poor. They improved when they cut them in the afternoon, but that was too late for us.We were told, by a member, that the reason for the state of the course was that, in the intervening years since I played there, it had been taken over by an Essex company. This company put no resources into the course and just milked it for green fees.I understand that there is a new management in place and they are addressing these issues. I hope they turn things around soon, because it is not a badly laid out track.I had also previously been under the impression that the college next door supplied greenkeeping staff of a very high order. I understand there is now no connection.Staff in the bar and the restaurant were very impressive. Food was good.

I played merrist wood just the other day and found it to be in extremely poor condition. The 'USGA' standard greens were in an awful state which left me very dissapointed. I had expected a well conditioned golf course and left througthly dissapointed!

Dispite the recent dry conditions I found the course in good condition. we were allowed to play from the members tees which provided a stiff test. A good variety of par 4s and 5s especially the tough finishing 4 holes. The greens were a pleasue to putt on and received the ball very well, too well on occasions (when spinning back to the front edge of the 11th green. The clubhouse was friendly,the food good and the members seemed to be very happy tucking into the wide variety of beer on tap. This is a great venue for a day out. 8.5/10

I must have been playing a different Merrist Wood to the people below.I played from the Champion Tees in good weather , the course was in good condition .The greens were very quick and undulating.The members and staff were very pleasant .All in All a good day out.

A very nice course indeed.The first time i played it i had 2 birdies and 6 pars in the first nine holes.And that was off an 18 handicap.Even with this i did not find it easy and the course was not to long.Except for the 13th.Whick requires a shot of around 180 straight up hill to a very shallow green surrounded by bunkers.Overall a great course.

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